Monday, January 19, 2015 is the Federal holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

On August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, Martin Luther King gave one of the most powerful and memorable speeches in our nation's history to about 250,000 people.

What’s the ‘buzz?’ At the close of every year, I check out the most popular ‘buzzwords’ for the year; the words that have made it into Wikipedia and the dictionary, most of which I had never heard before. Apparently, this year is all about ‘localisation,’ defined as “movement toward localized appeal by consumers.”

They say not all who wander are lost, and perhaps that is most true of the armchair traveler.

Forget something domestic where the weather is the same and the landscape only slightly different. As an armchair traveler you can follow the footsteps of others through jungles, sleet, warzones or whatever.

Prior to 1852, the Grand Kankakee Marsh was the largest wetland area in North America. The size of the marsh or “wetland” was around 500,000 acres. It was a vast area of wildlife that drew hunters from all over the world. Theodore Roosevelt, Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland frequently hunted the marsh.

In “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff, you’ll meet a tiny mouse that turns out to be quite bossy, sending a little boy on one errand after another throughout the day. It starts with one, single cookie.

Tuesday night's program by Jasper County author Logan Judy was a fantastic way to start off National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and a great guide for those thinking about publishing their own writing.